By Business & Finance 
Business & Finance highlights some of the top movers and shakers in Ireland.
MONERE Development Services
What is it?
MONERE Development Services is a learning and development business established in 2011. The company designs, implements and evaluates training and learning interventions. It specialises in graduate training programmes, career development and management development programmes. The company is headquartered in Waterford with a satellite office in Dublin.
Who’s behind it?
Learning and development professional Monica Murphy established the business after she spotted a gap in the market for a ‘total solution’ to ensure that any strategy, as set out by an organisation, could be facilitated by conducting a skills gap analysis.
How is it funded?
The company has been self-funded to date but has received some support from Waterford Leadership Partnership and Waterford Enterprise Board.
Future plans?
Murphy and her team identified 14 key objectives to help grow the business in 2015, including securing finance for a larger office and adding more employees. Ultimately, the plan is for the company to become the partner of choice for world-class learning, development and training solutions.
Roads Luxury Group
What is it?
Roads Luxury Group is an international lifestyle brand consisting of three companies: a publishing house, a niche fragrance line and a film production company.
Roads Fragrance boasts an eclectic mix of 10 eau de parfum fragrances; Roads Publishing is a high-end publisher of illustrated books specialising in art, photography, culture and modern classics; Roads Entertainment focuses on developing feature films and documentaries for the commercial and art-house market.
Who’s behind it?
Roads is founded and operated by philanthropist and art enthusiast Danielle Ryan. Having graduated from the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Ryan began to develop the concept for Roads – a brand that creates beautiful products influenced by all aspects of culture.
How is it funded?
Roads Luxury Group is privately funded.
Future plans?
Four new fragrances will be launched in September 2015. Roads Publishing will continue to publish a range of fine art, architecture, design and lifestyle illustrated books throughout 2015, while, Roads Entertainment will premiere its first films in theatres and on TV.
V12
What is it?
The V12 Protein Shot is a miniature protein drink made in Ireland.The shot contains 24 grams of protein – the equivalent of four eggs – and can be consumed in under a minute making it the ideal post-exercise recovery aid.
V12 are the nutritional partners for Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and the shot is also the supplement of choice for many elite athletes, including Premier League soccer players, rugby players, Olympians and mixed martial artists.
Who’s behind it?
Ciaran Greenwood is the founder of V12. He was educated at Blackrock College in Dublin but left in sixth year without sitting his final exams. He successfully pursued his ambition to independently trade gold contracts and used the proceeds to fund V12.
He was featured in the Irish Independent’s list of ‘30 under 30 shaping Ireland’s future’ last August as the youngest person, aged 21.
How is it funded?
V12 is a wholly self-funded business.
Future plans?
V12 launched in the UK in August 2013 and then in Ireland in January 2015. The plan for Greenwood and his team is to continue to expand in the UK and Ireland over the coming months.
NewsWhip
What is it?
NewsWhip is a technology company that monitors the spread of all news, video and other content in social networks.
Through indicators like tweets, shares and comments, people signal what stories are engaging them every minute. NewsWhip’s technology tracks all of this activity to identify those getting the most discussion online. Customers include media giants like Disney, BBC and BuzzFeed, and agencies like FleishmanHillard, DigitasLBi and Edelman.
Who’s behind it?
NewsWhip was co-founded in 2011 by Paul Quigley (CEO) and Andrew Mullaney (CTO). Before founding NewsWhip, Quigley practised law at two of New York’s major commercial law firms. Mullaney was behind a previous start-up called EasyDeals and prior to that worked in Accenture.
How is it funded?
The company was seed funded by the AIB Seed Capital Fund, Enterprise Ireland, the NDRC, and several angels, including Hal Philipp and New York-based Irish entrepreneur, Shane Naughton.
Future plans?
With almost 1,000% revenue growth over 2014, the company plans to continue its US and international expansion.
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